Students in the College Republicans and Young Democrats clubs on campus debated against each other Thursday in the University Union Ballroom over several different issues in the upcoming presidential election.

Nearly 50 people watched the debate, leaving most of the 430 chairs empty.

The student debate ended Political Awareness Week, a series of events that Associated Students Inc. and Democracy Matters, a bipartisan group on campus, helped put on to encourage students to get involved and vote in the Nov. 2 election.

Some students were not aware of the debate or Political Awareness Week.Tony Luu, a computer science major, and Bao Truong, a social work major, said they didn’t know about the debate and weren’t into politics.

Truong said he was more aware of the presidential debates on television than local debates like the student debate on campus.

Matt Plummer, a government major and member of the Young Democrats, said he didn’t go to the student debate because he thought it would have little effect on students.

“People go to those things with their minds already made up,” Plummer said.

He said he thinks students are less involved in local politics and more focused on the national issues and presidential debates.

“The majority of college students graduated from high school two years ago and don’t know a lot,” Plummer said.

ASI President Joshua Wood said he had hoped Political Awareness Week would have been more effective in getting students involved in the election process.

“It went OK this year,” Wood said. “We need to do more next year.” Wood said it wasn’t easy to draw in students during Political Awareness Week.

“It’s really tough on a college campus with everyone doing different things,” Wood said.

He said he wanted more students involved in local politics and aware about issues discussed on the school board and in their water district.

Some students at the event felt the debate reflected on Sacramento State’s ability to create student political involvement and awareness.

“Most of my friends are pretty aware of politics,” said Michael Recinos, a senior history major. “But I think it depends on the major.”

Recinos said he heard about the debate a couple of hours before it took place and thought it would be interesting to watch.

Karen Gutierrez, a registered Democrat and accounting major, said she wanted to see how Sac State prepared students on how to deal with real world issues and hold positions in the work force.

“I want to see how they tackle outside issues and issues in school,” said Gutierrez, “I like debates and heard about this one an hour ago and came to see where people stand.”

Arlyn Belmonte, a registered Republican and mechanical engineering major, said most of her friends are not politically aware and that most people on and off campus are not.

“A lot of people give me mixed answers on politics,” Belmonte said. “It’s never clear where they stand or what they believe in.”

Belmonte said she went to the debate to see how politically aware Sac State students are.

The student debate included five students from both the College Republicans and the Young Democrats with Eric Guerra, former ASI president and member of California State University’s Board of Trustees, as the mediator who asked the questions and watched the time.

Each side discussed a topic for two minutes and received a chance to rebut for 60 seconds.

On the topic of the economy, the Young Democrats said household incomes have dropped by $1,500 under the Bush administration and that the events on Sept. 11 were not the cause.

“The Bush tax cuts, the only president that has cut taxes during war, has increased the deficit,” said Holly Jacobson, a senior and environmental studies major.

The College Republicans argued that the Bush administration improved the economy and that all of the economic problems started under the Clinton administration.

“The economy has grown 4.8 percent over the past year,” said Jeffry Allen, a senior business major. “Kerry’s plan for $3.5 trillion in spending will increase the deficit.”

Both sides said their club took between two and three days to prepare for the debate and some of the representatives prepared their arguments over night.

Jacobson, who does not register as democrat but represented the Young Democrats, said she heard about it the night before and didn’t know anybody on her team.

Additional preparations to get students more involved in politics are planned next week. Democracy Matters will pass out information on the propositions so that students can understand them when they vote on Nov. 2.